Socket wrench head for spark plugs

ABSTRACT

A socket wrench head for spark plugs, which has a built-in permanent magnet for holding the spark plug. A guide sleeve having a bore is inserted in the shank of the socket wrench head for receiving the terminal of the spark plug. The bore may be a multi-step bore to receive differently shaped terminals, and the guide sleeve may be displaceable against the force of a compression spring to receive these differently shaped terminals.

I United States Patent 1191 1111 3,869,945 Zerver Mar. 11, 1975 [5SOCKET WRENCH HEAD FOR SPARK 2,956,462 10/1960 Paul 81/125 PLUGS FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [76] Inventor: Hermann Jochen Zerver, 818,5368/1959 Great Britain 81/125 Reinshagener Str. 2, 5630 e sc m y PrimaryExaminer-Al Lawrence Smith 22 d: A 2 Assistant Examiner-James 1 16Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Walter Becker [21] Appl. No.: 389,652

[57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data A socket wrenchhead for spark plugs, which has a Aug. 22, 1972 Germany 7230979 built-inpermanent magnet for holding the Spark P A guide sleeve having a bore isinserted in the shank [52] US. Cl. 81/125 Of h ke wren h head forreceiving the terminal [51] Int. Cl B25b 13/06, B25b 13/48 of the Sparkplug. The bore may be a multi-step bore [58] Field of Search 81 124.1,125 to r ive ifferently shaped terminals, and the guide sleeve may bedisplaceable against the force of a com- [56] References Cit d pressionspring to receive these differently shaped ter- UNITED STATES PATENTSl2/l925 Michel .1 8l/l24.l

minals.

7 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHABI 1 ms Fig.1

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILi la sum 1 o 2 PATENTEBHAR 1 1 1975 Fig.11

Fig.10

1 SOCKET WRENCH HEAD FOR SPARK PLUGS The present inventon relates to asocket wrench head for spark plugs, which head has a built-in permanentmagnet for holding the spark plugs.

Such socket wrench heads are known. They have proved particularlyhelpful where the spark plugs of an internal combustion engine are notvery well accessible, since the spark plugs are prevented by thebuilt-in permanent magnet from falling out of the socket wrench head notonly while being screwed out, but also while they are being screwed in.

A drawback of the heretofore known socket wrench heads for spark plugsis that especially the insulators of the spark plugs may be damaged ifthe socket wrench head is obliquely inserted upon the spark plugs or ifit becomes tilted while being operated.

It is, therefore. an object of the present invention to prevent atilting or oblique insertion of the socket wrench head.

This object and other objects and advantages of the invention willappear more clearly from the following specification in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the socket wrench head according to theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section through the socket wrench headaccording to the invention.

FIG. 3 shows a bottom view of the socket wrench head according to theinvention, in which, for clarity purposes, all inserts have beenomitted.

FIG. 4 shows a top view of the socket wrench head according to theinvention, again without inserts.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section through the permanent magnet receivingand holding support piece of the socket wrench head according to theinvention.

FIG. 6 is top view of the support piece of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 shows a section similar to that of FIG. 2, but with a spark plugengaged by the wrench.

FIG. 8 shows a longitudinal section through a second specific embodimentof the socket wrench head ac cording to the invention.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal section through the slidable guiding sleeveshown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is an enlargement of FIG. 8, with a spark plug engaged by thewrench.

FIG. 11 corresponds to FIG. 10, except that the terminal of the sparkplug has an attachment cap.

The socket wrench head according to the present invention ischaracterized primarily in that a guiding sleeve is inserted in thatshank portion of the socket wrench head which receives the insulator ofthe spark plug. The guiding sleeve is provided with a bore for receivingthe terminal of the spark plug.

An oblique insertion as well as a tilting of the socket wrench head inrelation to the spark plug is precluded by means of the guide sleeve,which is preferably made out of synthetic material and is inserted intothe shank of the socket wrench head. By doing this, not only will damageto the insulators of the spark plugs be prevented, but also higher andbetter predeterminable holding forces of the magnets will be realized.This is so because, by eliminating the tilting, a buildup of an air gapbetween the permanent magnet and the spark plug is avoided.Consequently, the holding forces of the permanent magnets need no longerbe of such a magnitude as to also hold tilted spark plugs, but need onlybe of the exact magnitude necessary to hold the spark plugs. The guidingsleeve thus not only prevents damage to the insulators of the sparkplugs, but also increases the utility of the socket wrench head due tothe elimination of higher holding forces of the permanent magnets.

In order to be able to use the socket wrench head made according to theinvention for spark plugs having their terminal provided with anattachment cap, the bore of the guide sleeve is, according to a furtherembodiment of the invention, provided with at least two steps, and theguide sleeve is mounted in the shank of the socket wrench head so as tobe displaceable against the force of a compression spring. When usingthe socket wrench head according to the invention for spark plugs havingstandard terminals, the latter engages that step of the multi-step borewhich has the smallest diameter. If on the other hand the socket wrenchhead is used for spark plugs the terminals of which have an attachmentcap, the latter engages that bore step which has the larger diameter.The complete entering of the spark plug into the socket wrench head ismade possible by pushing back the guiding sleeve within the shank of thesocket wrench head. The displacement occurs against the force of acompression spring the spring tension of which is naturally less thanthe holding force of the permanent magnet. According to a preferredembodiment of the invention, the compression spring is spirally shapedand is arranged between an annular flange of the guiding sleeve and anabutment surface of the shank. According to a further preferredembodiment of the invention, the socket wrench head is characterized bya stepped bore, both ends ofwhich are an inner square and an innerhexagon respectively, the permanent magnet being inserted in the upperportion of the hexagonal bore and the guiding sleeve being inserted inthe cylindrical middle portion thereof. The permanent magnet, accordingto a further embodiment of the invention, is in the form of a ring andis inserted into a mounting piece which has an outer hexagonalconfiguration and which is pressed into the hexagonal space of thesocket wrench head, which serves as the wrench face for the hexagonalportion of the spark plugs.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the arrangements shown thereincomprise the socket wrench head 1, which has a tubular housing, themiddle section of which forms a cylindrical shank 1a. The multi-stepbore 1b (FIG. 2) of the socket wrench head 1 is formed at its lower endas an inner square 10 (FIG. 3) in order to be able to operate the socketwrench head 1 by means of, for example, the square end of a ratchetwrench. The lower end ofthe socket wrench head I has an inner hexagonalsurface 1d (FIG. 4), which is to be placed upon the hexagonal head ofthe spark plug 5 as shown in FIG. 7. In order to be able to operate thesocket wrench head 1 by a standard rod, a transverse bore 1f (FIG. 1) isprovided in the upper region of the socket wrench head 1, which regionisadditionally provided with an outer hexagonal surface 1e, so that afixed spanner or ring spanner box end wrench may be used to turn thesocket wrench head 1.

A guiding sleeve 2 (FIG. 2) of synthetic material is inserted into thecylindrical shank 1a of the socket wrench head 1. The guiding sleeve 2is provided with a bore 20 for receiving the terminal 512 (FIG. 7) whichprotrudes from the insulator 5a of the spark plug 5. In

this manner, as can be clearly seen in FIG. 7, the spark plug is exactlyor accurately guided by the guiding sleeve 2 within the socket wrenchhead 1 by means of its terminal 5b, so that not only an obliqueinsertion of the socket wrench head 1, but also a tilting of the sparkplug 5 within the socket wrench head 1 is made impossible.

A permanent magnet 4 (FIG. 2) inserted in the inner region of thehexagonal portion 1d, is designed as a ring or collar, and is arrangedin a mounting piece 3. FIGS. 5 and 6 in particular show the constuctionof the mounting piece 3, which has a cylindrical bore to receive thepermanent magnet 4 and which has an outer hexagonal contour which fitsinto the inner hexagonal portion 1d of the socket wrench head 1.

According to the second specific embodiment of the invention, asillustrated in FIGS. 8-11, the continuous bore 2a of the guide sleeve 2of FIGS. 2 and 7 is replaced with a twostep bore. The bore step 2b hasthe smaller diameter to receive the terminal 5b (FIG. 10), and the borestep 2c has the larger diameter to receive an attachment cap 5c (FIG.11) which is on the terminal 5b. According to the second specificembodiment of the invention, the guiding sleeve 2 is displaceablymounted in the shank 1a of the socket wrench head 1. In this connection,a spiral-shaped compression spring 6 is arranged between an annularflange 2d of the guiding sleeve 2 and an abutment surface or shoulder 1dof the shank la.

If the socket wrench head 1 is used for spark plugs 5 with which theplug connector is placed directly upon the terminal 5b, the spark plug 5is guided within the socket wrench head 1 by inserting the terminal 5binto the bore step 2!) of guiding sleeve 2. This is illustrated in FIG.10 showing the accurate guidance of the spark plug 5 within the socketwrench head 1.

In case the terminal 5b ofthe spark plug Sis provided with an attachmentcap 5c, the socket wrench head I can be used unchanged. In this case,the attachment cap 50, which enters the bore step 20', pushes theguiding sleeve 2 towards the inner square 1c, compressing thecompression spring 6. Such a situation is shown in FIG. 11. After thesocket wrench head 1 is pulled from the spark plug 5, the compressionspring 6 returns the guiding sleeve 2 to a position for receiving sparkplugs, so that not only a standard spark plug 5 with an exposed terminal5b but also a spark plug 5 with an attachment cap 5c may be handled.

It is obvious that the guide sleeve 2 can be provided with a steppedbore having more than the two bore steps 2b and 20, for example, ifattachment caps 5c having various outer diameters are to be used.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by nomeans, limited to the specific showing of the drawings, but alsocomprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

It may be added that as synthetic material for the guiding sleeve 2 anysuitable material may be used, for instance nylon or teflon.

What I claim is:

l. A socket wrench head for spark plugs with terminals, which comprisesin combination: a socket wrench head body having a hollow shank, andalso having a first end portion for engagement with means for actuatingsaid wrench head body and also having a second end portion axiallyopposite said first end portion for receiving the spark plug to behandled, said shank being located between said first and second endportions, a guiding sleeve arranged within said shank and having a boreextending in the axial direction of said shank for receiving andembracing only the terminal of a spark plug to be handled by saidwrench, and a permanent magnet arranged within said second end portionfor holding a spark plug introduced into said second end portion.

2. A socket wrench head for spark plugs with terminals, which comprises:a socket wrench head body having a hollow shank, and also having a firstend portion for engagement with means for actuating said wrench headbody and also having a second end portion axially opposite said firstend' portion for receiving the spark plug to be handled, said shankbeing located between said first and second end portions, a guidingsleeve arranged within said shank and having a bore extending in theaxial direction of said shank for receiving the terminal ofa spark plugto be handled by said wrench, and a permanent magnet arranged withinsaid second end portion for holding a spark plug introduced into saidsecond end portion, a compression spring being mounted between saidfirst end portion and said guiding sleeve, and said bore'having at leasttwo steps of different diameters, said guiding sleeve being displaceablymounted in said shank and being movable against the thrust of saidcompression spring.

3. A socket wrench head according to claim 2, in which said shank has ashoulder, and said guiding sleeve has an annular flange, saidcompression spring being spriallyshaped and interposed between saidshoulder and said flange.

4. A socket wrench head according to claim 2, in which said guidingsleeve is made of synthetic material.

5. A socket wrench head according to claim 2, in which said first endportion is annular and has its interior wall designed for receiving andfitting a square head ofa wrench, and in which said second end portionis annular and has its inner wall hexagonally shaped in a hexagonalsection for receiving a hexagonally shaped portion of a spark plug, thesection between said first and second end portions being cylindrical andforming said shank.

6. A socket wrench head according to claim 5. in which said permanentmagnet is mounted within the region hexagonal section of saidhexagonally shaped inner wall.

7. A socket wrench head according to claim 5 which includes a mountingsection arranged in said hexagonal section and supporting said permanentmagnet.

* l l =l

1. A socket wrench head for spark plugs with terminals, which comprisesin combination: a socket wrench head body having a hollow shank, andalso having a first end portion for engagement with means for actuatingsaid wrench head body and also having a second end portion axiallyopposite said first end portion for receiving the spark plug to behandled, said shank being located between said first and second endportions, a guiding sleeve arranged within said shank and having a boreextending in the axial direction of said shank for receiving andembracing only the terminal of a spark plug to be handled by saidwrench, and a permanent magnet arranged within said second end portionfor holding a spark plug introduced into said second end portion.
 1. Asocket wrench head for spark plugs with terminals, which comprises incombination: a socket wrench head body having a hollow shank, and alsohaving a first end portion for engagement with means for actuating saidwrench head body and also having a second end portion axially oppositesaid first end portion for receiving the spark plug to be handled, saidshank being located between said first and second end portions, aguiding sleeve arranged within said shank and having a bore extending inthe axial direction of said shank for receiving and embracing only theterminal of a spark plug to be handled by said wrench, and a permanentmagnet arranged within said second end portion for holding a spark plugintroduced into said second end portion.
 2. A socket wrench head forspark plugs with terminals, which comprises: a socket wrench head bodyhaving a hollow shank, and also having a first end portion forengagement with means for actuating said wrench head body and alsohaving a second end portion axially opposite said first end portion forreceiving the spark plug to be handled, said shanK being located betweensaid first and second end portions, a guiding sleeve arranged withinsaid shank and having a bore extending in the axial direction of saidshank for receiving the terminal of a spark plug to be handled by saidwrench, and a permanent magnet arranged within said second end portionfor holding a spark plug introduced into said second end portion, acompression spring being mounted between said first end portion and saidguiding sleeve, and said bore having at least two steps of differentdiameters, said guiding sleeve being displaceably mounted in said shankand being movable against the thrust of said compression spring.
 3. Asocket wrench head according to claim 2, in which said shank has ashoulder, and said guiding sleeve has an annular flange, saidcompression spring being spirallyshaped and interposed between saidshoulder and said flange.
 4. A socket wrench head according to claim 2,in which said guiding sleeve is made of synthetic material.
 5. A socketwrench head according to claim 2, in which said first end portion isannular and has its interior wall designed for receiving and fitting asquare head of a wrench, and in which said second end portion is annularand has its inner wall hexagonally shaped in a hexagonal section forreceiving a hexagonally shaped portion of a spark plug, the sectionbetween said first and second end portions being cylindrical and formingsaid shank.
 6. A socket wrench head according to claim
 5. in which saidpermanent magnet is mounted within the region hexagonal section of saidhexagonally shaped inner wall.